Category: By John

Waiting for the results of Emergency Surgery

Millbrook Cove (north end of Vancouver Island) BC, Canada, 2-SEP-2018 – Waiting for results of emergency surgery is no easier on a sailboat in the middle of nowhere than it is anywhere else.

The difference on this trip is the Iridium Go, which has changed our lives for the better and taught me what a real love-hate relationship is about. How I hate the UI on that product.

But, it allowed a text message from my brother Ken to reach me: ‘‘Dad is in for emergency surgery. Blood Clot in left leg, also one in kidney. Can’t do anything about kidney. Its a tricky surgery.’’
Continue reading “Waiting for the results of Emergency Surgery”

Racor

Khutze Inlet, 27-AUG-2018 – While Jennifer sleeps, I research and fret over what to do about he junk that has accumulated in the bowl of our Racor fuel filter.

Kutze Inlet is a beautiful, big place, surrounded by mountains, with snow-cover peaks glimpsed around closer mounts. The water is flat and two water falls provide a constant aural accompaniment to the sights. Continue reading “Racor”

People, the RCMP and us

Lowe Inlet, Nettle Basin, BC, Canada, 24-AUG-2018 – Yesterday we stopped at a preserved cannery. Yes, there is an irony there.

The cannery is in Inverness Passage, a short drive from Prince Rupert, or about 15 miles by boat, if you don’t go over the shoals, which we do not.

It was another in the series of days of predicted northerly winds that do not show up. It is also the land of the mystifying currents.

We moored the day before at Cow Bay marina, which is the most expensive marina we stay in in our entire travels. It is the only marina that charges by the slip length, rather than the boat length, though we have been comped power. It also has a Canadian customs phone, which makes things easy.

When calling on the phone, the Canadians want you to be on a certified dock. You can’t just call in, as we do with the Americans. At Cow Bay is Robin, the manager whom we’ve gotten to know over the past two years. We’ve also seen him at the Seattle boat show.

This year we’ve also gotten to know Mango. Continue reading “People, the RCMP and us”

Fog turning to smoke

Nakat Harbor Baidarka Arm, AK, 21-Aug-2018 — A quick post. We’ll be in Prince Rupert this evening, but I’ll be doing a oil change and may not have time to do a full post.

Leaving Ketchikan was a real leaving. We have friends there now. When asked the question, ”Will we see you next year?” We could only answer, ”We don’t know. We may be sailing to Hawaii next year.”

The traveling south has all been under power. The predicted north winds have not shown up. Yesterday we might have been able to beat southward, but we had a current to catch.

This morning the weather forecast is for fog turning to smoke in many places. We’re told there are 600 fires burning in BC. Yes, we enter Canada this afternoon and the pacific time zone.

The weather report again says sailing conditions.

Oh, yes. We’ve been anchoring in small coves and finding the depths in some places are not as expected. Jennifer did research last night. Many of the soundings were last conducted between 1870 and 1939.

We’re doing well and heading south. The next decision: east side of west side of Vancouver Island.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Quick note: Wind, Waves, A whale pops up to say hello

Coffman Cove, AK, 17-Aug-2018 — We’re back after abandoning an attempted crossing of Clarence Strait headed towards Meyer’s Chuck.

The NOAA weather forecast was for wind increasing to 20 knots by mid-day. At 7am, when the current switched to ebbing south, our direction, we motored out, keeping clear of a whale feeding in harbor, to be across before the wind had picked up.

Once out, we found the wind was already blowing.

Continue reading “Quick note: Wind, Waves, A whale pops up to say hello”

Kelp, kelp, kelp, Monte Carlo and Decisions

Sumner Strait, Heading east against the current, 16-AUG-2018 — I never come below when we’re underway. My days are spent in the cockpit watching the world go by, when we’re under power, or sailing, when there is wind. Fixing the autohelm for long periods doesn’t work on the inside passage, the straits are too narrow, and the water has too many floating obstacles.

Yesterday, we spent the morning in Lord’s Pocket. Jennifer has a new kelp-of-Alaska book, which she bought at the ranger station in Glacier Bay, that she wanted to identify kelp with. We launched our Portland Pudgy dinghy, Hilary Hoffmann, from the deck. We’ve been thinking, and I have been writing, about the changes in our perspective as we become practiced and the adventure turns into everyday life. Continue reading “Kelp, kelp, kelp, Monte Carlo and Decisions”

Port Townsend on Parade

Lord’s Pocket, AK, 14-AUG-2018 — I’m not writing as much as I’d like. To be honest, as much as I feel I should. Traveling in Caro Babbo has become life, it is not an adventure or a vacation. It is our life, or at least my life. Jennifer is feeling she has had enough of this trip and wants to return home, wherever that is now. But we are headed south and it is nice traveling.

We’ve traveled from Juneau to Baranof Warm springs, after Tenake springs, and then Cosmos Cove.

Cosmos Cove was lovely. It is wide with nothing particular to recommend it looking from a chart, but from inside it is silent with a focused view of the mountains across the strait. The trip to Cosmos had been a long 10 hour motor with mirrored water rather than the predicted 10-15 knots. We’ve been shadowed recently by two sail boats, Laiva and Balloon. We’d seen Laiva in Juneau, where it sat empty for a few days before showing signs of life. Continue reading “Port Townsend on Parade”

One Hot Spring to Another

Chatham Strait, AK, 12-Aug-2018 — Caro Babbo: Malaspina, Malaspina, Malaspina. This the is the sailing vessel Caro Babbo, on one-three. Caro Babbo, on one-three.

Malaspina: Malaspina on One-Three. Go ahead Caro Babbo.

Malaspina is a one hundred meter Alaska Ferry that, according to AIS, is due in Auke Bay, Juneau at 10 pm tonight, meaning she’ll make a number of stops along the way, possibly including Tenneke Springs, where we we yesterday.

Caro Babbo: We’re the sail boat ahead of you. We show a very tight CPA. What is your advice? Continue reading “One Hot Spring to Another”

Leaving Glacier Bay

Icy Strait, North of Hoonah, 5-AUG-2018 — I lay in bed for a while this morning after the alarm went off at 4. I wasn’t tired, but I thought it might be darker than we wanted to leave. Sunrise is around 4:50 in the morning these days.

It probably wasn’t, but I lay there anyway. About 4:20, I got up, used the head and found my clothes in the main cabin where I left them. Socks are always the problem. Without turning on the lights, dark socks in dark shadows are generally found aboard Caro Babbo by feel: either underfoot, or on hands and knees. Continue reading “Leaving Glacier Bay”

Cloudy Mornings, Glorious Afternoons

We’re anchored in front of Reid Glacier this morning. The Inlet is large, much more than a mile long, which gives scale to things. A small dot in the distance is a 60-foot boat, which we learned was there on AIS.

We’ll dinghy over to the glacier later this morning and walk around.

Each morning has been overcast, but has burned off in the afternoon. For the cruise and tourist boats this hasn’t been the best. They arrive in the early morning and leave around noon. Yesterday, Eurodam, told us they saw neither of the two big glaciers because they were fogged in.

By the time we arrived at Johns Hopkins Glacier, around two pm, it was bright and sunny, but the two miles in front of the glacier were choked with small ice.
We have our trip track from 2016 loaded into OpenCPN on my laptop. We see that we were able to travel more than a mile and a half closer that year. The ice, then, was larger with more discrete pieces that we could thread our way through.
Continue reading “Cloudy Mornings, Glorious Afternoons”